Skate protectors here to stay, Hartnell says

Flyers Scott Hartnell, left, and Wayne Simmonds celebrate Hartnell’s goal against the New Jersey Devils in their game last Tuesday. Hartnell has decided to wear foot protectors for the foreseeable future. (AP Photo/Julio Cortez)

It would figure that Hartnell’s overdue decision to wear plastic protectors on top of his skates in Thursday night’s game against the Nashville Predators won’t become trendy. But he swears it’s not going to be a short-lived fad as far as he’s concerned.

“I wore them last year after I broke my foot, and I put them on last game after I blocked a shot,” Hartnell said with a guilty laugh. “How convenient. I think they’ll stick this time.”

Asked if he meant he’ll stick with the protectors for good, Hartnell said, “probably, yeah.”

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Hartnell, who entering the Predators game had 5 goals and 13 points in previous 12 games — after getting 13 points in 31 games before that — was hit high up on the side of the foot with a shot early in the Flyers’ 4-3 victory in Buffalo Tuesday. He admitted Thursday he’s still dealing with pain in the area but also knows how lucky he is to be able to play. It was a similar block of a shot that left Hartnell with a fractured foot that forced him to miss a month at the start of the 2012-13 shortened season, something Hartnell’s game still seemed to be recovering from at the start of this season.

“The skates have changed a lot since I’ve been in the league here,” Hartnell said. “They’re lighter, they’re softer. Some guys go through pairs every few games just because they break down so fast. Guys are shooting the puck harder and when you have softer skates it’s obviously going to lead to more foot injuries.”

What players are reluctant to do, however, is wear protectors on the skates. Just last week, Minnesota Wild general manager Chuck Fletcher reportedly met with several of his players to try to talk them into wearing the protectors, which are plastic flaps that cover the arch of the boot up to the ankle.

This came after a rash of foot injuries to Wild players, including their forward leader Zach Parise. Fletcher also said he was bringing in an orthotics specialist from Montreal to make molds of the Wild players’ feet in an attempt to get them to wear the protectors.

“The problem is players have the right to do what they want to do,” Fletcher told the Minneapolis Star-Tribune. “We cannot make them wear them. We can encourage them to, we can provide (the protectors) to them, which we have all year, and we can be a little more aggressive in extolling the virtues of (them). ... But we are not allowed to mandate players to wear them.”

Nothing like that from the Flyers yet, though general manager Paul Holmgren has pleaded with some of his players in recent seasons to wear face shields.

Hartnell sees the connection.

“It’s almost like wearing a visor nowadays,” Hartnell said of the foot protectors. “It’s kind of stupid not to wear a visor when guys’ sticks are going everywhere and pucks are being shot and deflected. I’m pretty sure if you look down in a few years, you’ll see most guys wearing (foot protectors) for sure.”

There was a note of added urgency for Hartnell to don protection for his aching foot Thursday night — Shea Weber was bringing one of the league’s hardest slapshots into Wells Fargo Center.

“He’s got one of the heaviest shots in the league,” Hartnell said. “I’ll definitely be wearing that because I’m a left winger and he’s a right point shot.”

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Weber was playing against the Flyers for the first time since he was signed by Holmgren to an offer sheet in the summer of 2012 as a restricted free agent. Nashville ended up matching the offer, leaving Weber in the somewhat awkward position last year of returning to the Preds after making a show of his visit to Philadelphia.

“It was pretty exciting to have him,” Hartnell said, recalling the buzz around Weber that week. “I knew he was in town and they were showing him the area and all that stuff. I think he really thought this was a great spot for him. If he didn’t, I’m sure he wouldn’t have signed it.”

But the Preds surprised a lot of people by ponying up enough cash to match the 14-year, $110 million offer. Not so surprisingly, Weber didn’t want to entertain any questions about that Thursday.

“Obviously, I’m a Nashville Predator,” Weber said. “I love it (there) and I love the organization. It’s just a position where we have to get better and continue working on it.”

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After a two-game benching, Steve Downie was back in the Flyers lineup, playing on the fourth line.

“To me it was his intensity in the games,” Flyers coach Craig Berube said of Downie. “I talked to him about it. His fight on the puck, his style of play, wasn’t there like it was before.”